𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟

Your alarm clock beeped softly on your nightstand, declaring to the dark room that it had finally reached midnight. Hallie was sound asleep in the bed beside yours, arm limply draped over the side of the mattress. You could hear her snoring quietly, knowing it was probably the best night's sleep she'd gotten since moving in because you weren't thrashing around, dreaming of masked killers and the ghosts of your dead friends.

No, you weren't dreaming. In fact, you weren't even asleep.

The videotape that you'd stolen from the back of the news van twirled back and forth between your hands and you drummed your fingers against the smooth black plastic surface. You'd been staring unblinkingly out your window for what felt like hours, waiting for the security cart to roll by so you could put your plan in motion.

Every once in a while you swore you could see fleeting streaks of movement from behind the trees or buildings on the other side of the lawn, but they always darted away so quickly that they must've been squirrels or something similar. It would be silly to assume it was anything else.

Mickey hadn't been kidding when he said there had been a massive security increase. You saw at least three K-9 vehicles parked on either end of the parking lot on your walk home and jumbles of uniformed guards were wandering around, asking people for their student IDs before letting them in and out of the library. You heard German shepherds barking in the dead of night and the sharp static of walkie talkies as guards paced back and forth under your window, whistling to themselves as they kept watch.

But that was early into nightfall and now it was dead quiet aside from the chirping of crickets.

Suddenly, a flashing red and blue light blinked into view, cutting around the corner of the dorm building. The light blared in the reflection of your window and you drew back, not wanting to be seen. Clinging to the window sill, you ducked down until only your eyes peered over the ledge.

The campus security cart rolled slowly down the path, sirens ablaze and red-blue lights blinking rapidly. You knew that the whole 'tightened security' thing was mainly for show to scare away whoever it was that had a taste for killing off Windsor students. Most of the student body evacuated already; leaving you, Mickey, and roughly two hundred or so brave ones to fend for yourselves.

You nearly dozed off by the time the blinking lights started to dim and the dinky little golf cart rolled right back around the corner, basking the world outside your window in darkness once more. Pulling yourself from your thoughts, you rolled out of bed and grabbed your backpack off of the floor. There wasn't much in it besides your teddy bear and a few notebooks, but you'd need it just in case you got caught and needed an alibi.

In the same fluid motion, you shoved the videotape inside and zipped it up before swinging it over your shoulder and pulling on your shoes. Can't forget my keys, you thought to yourself, grabbing them off the desk along with your student ID before stepping out and swiftly shutting the door behind you.

You didn't bother shooting Hallie a second glance, unaware that it was the last time you would ever see her.

It was much colder in the night than it had been during the day. Even though it was too dark to see, you could almost feel your foggy breath hitting you in the face as you jogged across the pitch-black campus toward the film building. Your mission was simple: get into the amphitheater (somehow), review the footage on the tape, make note of any recurring background figures, and turn in the tape for Dewey as evidence.

It sounded so simple in your head, but you realized it would be so much trickier than that as soon as you walked up over the hill, revealing the massive building in all of its glory. It looked so much bigger at night. Big and impenetrable. "You belong here," you recited quietly to yourself, hopping up onto the steps that led up to the entrance. "You're a film student and you forgot your binder in the amphitheater. You belong here."